The Kabul administration has released more than 900 Taliban fighters since the militants signed a landmark deal with the United States to end the war in Afghanistan, an official said Thursday.
The release is part of a prisoner-exchange programme included in the US-Taliban deal agreed February 29, which has also seen the Taliban free dozens of Afghan security personnel.
"So far 933 Taliban detainees have been released from Afghan jails," Javed Faisal, spokesman for Afghanistan's National Security Council, told AFP.
In return the Taliban have released 132 Kabul administration prisoners, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special envoy to Afghanistan who negotiated the US-Taliban deal, sees the prisoner exchange as an "important step" toward reducing violence in the war-torn country.
The deal stipulated the Afghan government would release 5,000 Taliban prisoners, while the insurgents would free 1,000 Afghan security force personnel.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.